Business

The ‘Cercle d'Economia’, a Catalan economic forum open to businesspeople and academics, are in favour of a “legal and agreed” consultation if pro-independence groups have “clear” support in the 27-S elections. The forum, which is against a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (‘DUI’ in Catalan), stated that allowing the consultation is a “democratic principle” inherent in the Spanish Constitution. The Cercle d'Economia presented its views in an opinion piece which had to be redrafted since the first draft presented on Monday by the president of the organisation, Anton Costas, created differences between board members.

Catalan company Recam Làser, which specialises in laser cutting, is responsible for making the torch for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The plant has already developed a final prototype and will start making torches this October and the 15,000 units must be delivered early next year. 800 torches will start the tour in Greece and the rest will go directly to Brazil. The torch is made out of recycled aluminium and weighs 1.5 kilos. When lit, it extends by a few centimetres and shows the colours of the flag of Brazil. Each torch will cost around 400 dollars. “This order will project us as the company which manufactured the torch in Rio 2016,” said president and founder of  Recam Làser, Pere Barrios.

The activity of cruises in ‘Port de Barcelona’ provides 413.2 million euros to Catalonia’s GDP and each cruise generates on average a turnover of one million euros, according to a study from the University of Barcelona (UB) released this Tuesday. The total turnover, including the expenses of passengers, shipping companies and crews, amounts to 796 million euros in both direct and indirect expenses. The study also shows that the activity of these cruises generates around 7,000 jobs, besides the other positive effects on the Catalan economy such as increased demand at Barcelona’s main airport, ‘Aeroport del Prat’. The Catalan capital benefits the most from the cruise activity, as 75% of the revenues stay in Barcelona.

This is the highest growth registered in Catalonia since 2007, when prices increased by 6.5% and comes after five consecutive months of rising house prices, according to figures released on Tuesday by the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE). Prices rose more in Catalonia than in Spain as a whole, where the increase was around 4%. The number of buying and selling transactions reached 2010 levels, with the previously owned market registering the highest growth. 

All Catalonia’s employers’ associations, with the exception of ‘Foment del Treball’, and every chamber of commerce have united behind Catalonia’s right to vote and expressed on Thursday their wish to “unconditionally support” the result of the upcoming elections on the 27^th of September. The president of the employers’ association CECOT, Antoni Abad, said that “the right to decide is a structural element of a democracy”, adding that “we must re-establish Spain or found a new state”. The businessmen handed a copy of ‘Manifest del Far’ - a document signed in 2014, in which they expressed their commitment to Catalonia’s process of sovereignty - to the President of the Catalan Parliament, Núria de Gispert. She thanked the employers for “such a necessary” event and emphasised that “the time of ambiguity is over”. 

Registered unemployment in Catalonia rose by 4,521 people during the month of August and totalled 506,306 according to statistics published on Wednesday by the Spanish Ministry of Employment and Social Security. However, the number of unemployed decreased by 11.43% compared to August 2014, which makes this month the best August since 1999. The monthly decline was caused mainly by the increase in unemployment in the services sector, which is to be expected considering that August marks the end of many seasonal contracts. The number of unemployed also increased in August in Spain as a whole, by 0.54%. The Spanish annual rate, however, was slightly less positive than the Catalan one, with unemployment in August decreasing by 8.13% in comparison with the same month last year. Overall, there are 21,679 more unemployed this month and the total number of people jobless in Spain is 4,067,955.

The economic crisis might be over in GDP terms, with growth in both Spain and Catalonia, but its social and labour effects still persist. That is according to the two main unions in Catalonia, UGT and CCOO, that warned on Wednesday that much still needs to be done. A report by UGT has suggested that Catalonia needs to create 400,000 new jobs to reach the levels of employment that it had before the economic crisis. The report, which analyses the situation between 2007 and 2015, regrets the fact that there are now more temporary and part-time contracts. The CCOO has said that new street mobilisations will be needed this autumn in order to ask for better working conditions for employees in the country.

The Catalan capital attracts the interest of some of the most prestigious hotel chains in the world, and has more 5 star establishments than London or Paris. Up to 13% of tourist accommodation in Barcelona is provided by luxury or 5 star establishments, a percentage that is 10% in the British capital and 7.5% in the French one. The new mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, introduced in July a one-year moratorium on new tourist accommodation to regulate the influx of visitors to the city that has affected eight of the eleven new luxury projects in Barcelona. However, neither the number of beds on offer nor the ban have reduced interest from international businesspeople, whom continue to see the Catalan capital as a “very attractive” place to invest, according to experts.

The Catalan bank Sabadell has completed the process of compulsory acquisition of all TSB Banking Group (TSB) shares, thereby taking ownership of 100% of this British entity’s share capital. The move completes the takeover started last spring, when TSB accepted the 1.7bn-pound offer made by Banc Sabadell. Through buying TSB, Banc Sabadell has expanded its international presence, with its percentage of foreign assets growing from 5% to 22%. TSB has 631 branches, 4.6 million customers and 8,600 employees in the United Kingdom.

Catalan companies sold abroad some €31,899.9 million worth of goods and services between January and June this year, which represents a 7.16% increase on the figures from the first six months of 2014, according to information released on Tuesday by the Spanish Ministry for the Economy and Competitiveness. Catalan exports have never before reached such a high sales volume for a six-month period. Not only this, the level of international sales registered during June alone also broke all previous records for this month, coming in at €5,662.1 million. Indeed, almost month after month Catalonia's export records were broken during the first half of this year and the Catalan economy has seen exports rocket during the last 3 years. In Spain as a whole, international sales have also broken all previous records in the first half of 2015, reaching 125,122.9 million, a 4.9% growth on figures from the first 6 months of 2014. Thus, the Catalan economy generated 25.49% of Spain's total exports, while representing 19% of its GDP and 16% of its population.

The Port of Barcelona has been opening new regular routes for container transportation in the last few months, improving the connections with strategic markets in the Americas, Asia, West Africa and the Mediterranean area. An example of this trend is the new route served by MNM African Shipping Line, a company founded this year based in the port of Tanger-Med and working for transport and logistics firms from Morocco and Nigeria. This new line will be using vessels with a 2,500 TEU container capacity to connect the Catalan capital with major ports in North and West Africa such as Tangier, Casablanca, Agadir, Nouakchott, Dakar, Conakry, Lagos, Tema and Abidjan, covering an area with some 300 million people.

Catalonia’s annual inflation rate increased from a rate of 0.3% in June to 0.4% in July, according to information released on Thursday by the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE). This is the highest yearly rate since June 2014, when prices also increased 0.4% compared to the previous year. In Spain as a whole, annual inflation continued at the 0.1% rate registered in June. Therefore, deflation is gradually being left behind, although price increases are still at a low level, mostly due to the continuing low price of fuel on the global market. However, in monthly terms, prices declined by 0.8% in Catalonia, mainly owing to a 13.3% drop in the price of retail goods due to seasonal sales, but also because of a 0.5% drop in the price of fruits and vegetables. The increase in housing rentals, communications and entertainment, mostly travel industry, have not been able to compensate for the aforementioned declining prices in monthly terms.

The main Catalan airport broke another of its own records by serving 4,257,534 passengers last month, which is its best July ever and a 5.7% increase on July 2014 data, according to information released on Wednesday by the Spanish Airport Authority (AENA). Looking at the cumulative passenger figures, Barcelona El Prat has hosted 22,321,477 travellers in the first 7 months of the year, a 5% growth on the same period of 2014. In the last few years, the airport has increased its passenger figures significantly while increasing its number of short- and medium-haul routes, as well as its intercontinental destinations. Indeed, the number of intercontinental passengers in July has seen a 19.3% growth compared to the same month of 2014. The number of passengers on intra-European Union flights increased by 9.7% in the same period, and domestic flight passengers grew by 5.1%. The only negative figure was the decrease in the number of travellers on European but non-EU flights, which decreased by 3% due to the drop-off in Russian tourism.

The Catalan GDP increased by 0.9% between April and June this year, which is a positive figure but slightly lower than the 1.1% rate registered during the first quarter. However, in annual terms, the Catalan economy grew by 3% in the year to June, which is more than the 2.6% annual growth registered in March. Such a high level of annual growth had not been registered since September 2007, before the financial crisis started. According to the Catalan Finance Ministry, the minor fall off in growth registered between April and June compared to the growth rate from January to March is due to the "extraordinary" 1.1% growth rate of the first quarter. The Ministry stressed that 0.9% growth is still a very positive rate and does not break the trend of the economic recovery, on the contrary proving its strength.

Real estate continues its positive trend and is gradually leaving behind the crisis the sector went through between 2008 and 2014. Housing sales have grown in Catalonia for the 9^th consecutive month in annual terms. This week, the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE) released the sales figures for the month of June 2015 and they show an 8.15% growth in Catalonia compared to June last year. It is the best figure for the month of June since 2010. Previously-owned properties are leading the market by a clear margin, with only 15% of sales being new builds. In Spain as a whole, housing sales have already seen 10 consecutive months of growth. In June, they increased by 17% on last year’s figures, with 78.3% of the properties sold having been previously owned.